The Ordination of the Priests

29

Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,2and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour.3You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams.4You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.5Then you shall take the vestments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the decorated band of
the ephod;6and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban.7You shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him.8Then you shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them,9and you shall gird them with sashes and tie headdresses on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual ordinance. You shall then ordain Aaron and his
sons.

10 You shall bring the bull in front of the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull,11and you shall slaughter the bull before the L
ord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting,12and shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of
the altar.13You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and turn them into smoke on the
altar.14But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

15 Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,16and you shall slaughter the ram, and shall take its blood and dash it against all sides of the altar.17Then you shall cut the ram into its parts, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its parts and its head,18and turn the whole ram into smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the L
ord; it is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the L
ord.

19 You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,20and you shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons, and on the
thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet, and dash the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar.21Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and his sons’
vestments with him; then he and his vestments shall be holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ vestments.

22 You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on
them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination),23and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the L
ord;24and you shall place all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and raise them as an elevation offering before the L
ord.25Then you shall take them from their hands, and turn them into smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering of pleasing odor before the L
ord; it is an offering by fire to the L
ord.

26 You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and raise it as an elevation offering before the L
ord; and it shall be your portion.27You shall consecrate the breast that was raised as an elevation offering and the thigh that was raised as an elevation offering from the ram of ordination, from that
which belonged to Aaron and his sons.28These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering; and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from
their sacrifice of offerings of well-being, their offering to the L
ord.

29 The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.30The son who is priest in his place shall wear them seven days, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

31 You shall take the ram of ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place;32and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.33They themselves shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of them, because they are holy.34If any of the flesh for the ordination, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is
holy.

35 Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, just as I have commanded you; through seven days you shall ordain them.36Also every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall
anoint it, to consecrate it.37Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

The Daily Offerings

38 Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day.39One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening;40and with the first lamb one-tenth of a measure of choice flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink
offering.41And the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing odor, an
offering by fire to the L
ord.42It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the L
ord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.43I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory;44I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests.45I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.46And they shall know that I am the L
ord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them; I am the L
ord their God.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.

28.And it shall be Aaron’s. Lest the dignity of the sacred offerings, which are called the holiness of the Lord, should be impaired, strangers are prohibited from partaking of them; for, if it had been permitted that every one should touch them and eat of them, there would have
been no distinction between them and ordinary food. Of the priests’ portion some parts were common to all their families; but the holy parts were excepted, to the intent that by this particular instance the reverence due to all might be inculcated. The reference to place has the same object, for it was not lawful to eat what was holy within the walls of their houses, in order that it might be distinguished from their common and ordinary food. For the same reason, whatever remained of it was to
be burnt, lest, if the flesh became rank, or the bread moldy, their ill savor and filthy appearance might somewhat detract from the dignity of the holy things; for the infirmity of the ancient people had need of childish rudiments, which might still have a tendency to elevate the minds of the pious to things above. This was the object of all these things, that no corruption should creep in which might pollute or render contemptible the service of God.